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Refocus: 7 Tips To Help Overwhelmed Entrepreneurs Get Back On Track

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

“It is easy to be confused because there are so many things that seem important. It is hard to know what will make the ‘big difference’.”

You have clarity when you find out where your passions lie, and pursue them with all of your might. When you do this for a long time, everything else falls into place!” – Unknown

Although being an entrepreneur can be rewarding, it is difficult and staying focused on your business often becomes a challenge. Here are 7 helpful tips for getting back on track.

1. Breathe to reset

We have a tendency to become overwhelmed by everything that’s going on in our lives. In order to get your stuff together, you need to take some time out of each day for just yourself. Have a breath, a pause and time out.

This could be as simple as taking 5 minutes at the end of every workday or weekend and do something relaxing like reading your favourite book.

It’s time to decide to get your head straight and focussed on your overarching goals. Someone else can’t do it for you!

At times our mind can be all over the place and it’s hard to know what exactly needs attention first.

Taking time out can help find the clarity and give your mind space to breathe.

2. Take care of yourself first 

You need to make sure that you are taking the steps necessary for your own success, happiness and well-being before worrying about anything else.

We all have the tendency to put our careers first and this can often result in neglecting ourselves.

It’s a great idea to prioritize taking care of our mental health by scheduling time for it into each day, otherwise everything else will suffer as a consequence. A good way to do this is by using some form of mindfulness or meditation technique.

Mindfulness meditation can involve sitting in a quiet place (or waking up early) to meditate before starting your day or during your lunch break. It’s been shown that this type of meditation can help reduce anxiety, improve well-being and outlook, and improve cognitive function.

If you’re an entrepreneur, then it’s your responsibility to take care of yourself. Don’t be shy about asking for help in this too.

3. Make a list of what you need to do, and then get started with the most important task on that list.

Your list should be moving you onwards your goals – short and longterm.

It is helpful to write down a list of what you need to do, and then get started with the most important task on that list.

You can start by making a list of things that are currently on your mind or in front of you. It helps get the reactive stuff out of your system: like a brain dump.

Break down larger tasks into smaller ones so they seem more manageable. These steps will help make it easier for you to focus on one thing at a time and avoid overwhelm.

The “need to do” aspect of the list is based on your goals and objectives, so be sure to consult them.

A list can be helpful to clear the mind: create a list of tasks with an estimate of how long each will take to complete. Give yourself some time estimates if you can’t give precise hours or minutes. The “pomodoro technique” can help to compartmentalize your day and focus on one task at a time.

There is always something we can do right now to take us closer to our goals. If you have a list of things, then it’s time for some triage or prioritisation and if not, make one! You need to know what the steps are in order to get there.

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain

This means that we need to get going with our goals in order for them to be successful.

4. Prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance.

Don’t simply put out fires!

Place more emphasis, when making decisions, on which is most important and can have the biggest impact on the end goal.

The story of putting in the biggest rocks first suggests that we should focus our efforts on achieving goals, rather than being distracted/curious about what’s around us.

We are heading towards a goal after all and not just drifting.

Squirrel!!!

5. Break down large tasks into smaller ones so they’re more manageable.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

By breaking the larger task into smaller tasks, it is more manageable and seems less daunting or difficult.

For example, if your goal was to write an article on marketing strategies for small businesses, but you don’t know how to start:

-Research current trends in marketing
-Outline topic of article with key points
-Start fleshing out article with points and bullet points
-Write introduction
-Format article content for print or digital media

By making this task more manageable by breaking it into smaller tasks, you will be able to accomplish the goal. It’s also easier when there are fewer steps since each step can feel like a success.

The process of turning an overwhelming project into a do-able one is called chunking. Make chunking your friend!

6. Focus on one thing at a time (i.e., don’t try to work on everything)

It is easy to get distracted by other tasks, but the results aren’t always desired. It is important to focus on completing one task at a time and avoid getting distracted.

When you are working, resist the temptation to start something new because it will only distract from your current work.

It can be difficult when we have many things that need our attention, but it’s always better to finish what we started first before starting more tasks.

“Deep work” is the act of immersing yourself in a cognitively demanding task, typically one that is complex and involves a lot of thought.

This means you have to concentrate without any distraction for long periods time. It’s not easy work but it can also be very rewarding and gives you more control over your own life as well as greater understanding or insight into the topic at hand.

7. Set realistic goals for yourself, and celebrate when you achieve them!

Give yourself milestones to strive towards along the way – not just the end-goal. This can provide motivation and help you to feel more accomplished.

You can reward yourself after you’ve achieved a milestone. This might be as simple as acknowledging your accomplishment with a pat on the back, or treating yourself to something nice (like that new dress you wanted). By rewarding ourselves for our hard work we are more likely to continue it and feel good about what we have done.

This will keep you motivated!

Keep in mind that too many goals can be overwhelming and so can those goals which are too far off or out of reach.

Reset and refocus

Remember – a project doesn’t need to be an overwhelming task and can be broken down into manageable chunks.

Set realistic goals, celebrate your achievements along the way, and let go of any fear or perfectionism you may have!

You may just surprise yourself with what you are capable of completing.

You’ve got this!

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Owie and Leanne the Lobsters Play Tricks on Jack the Jellyfish.

One warm summer day, Owie the Lobster was sleeping on a rock after eating lots of marsh-mellows, and Leanne snuck up to him quietly. She reached out her claw and tickled Owie. He jumped up and was now super awake.

They had lots of giggles.

Owie was wanting to play a trick and so Leanne started to run away. Owie chased her around the rock, but she was too fast for him. He had an idea so he made a different noise each time he got close to her. She turned back and found that Owie was now behind her! That’s when she knew he was going to tickle her.

But then she looked further in the distance and saw Jack the jellyfish coming towards her. Then Leanne thought that this was a trick!

She swam to Owie and he tickled her right before the jellyfish wiggled his tentacles at them. They laughed, but then they heard more noises coming from behind them so they continued swimming away as fast as possible.

“Hey wait!”, said Jack. “I’m only joking and I won’t sting you guys.”

“Owie!”, said Leanne. “Did you hear that?”

“I did”, he replied, and they both laughed again as Jack wiggled his tentacles at them.

They then swam off to find a new hiding place in the ocean before their next trick! They were determined to try harder this time because it was soon time for a snack. “Let’s do one more trick before our snacktime” said Leanne.

“That’s a great idea!”, said Owie, and they swam back to the jellyfish.

Owie waved his claws in front of Jack so he thought that Leanne was waving her tentacles at him! The two had tricked the Jellyfish again because it wasn’t time for their snack yet and now there is one more longer trick they will do.

“Tag” laughed Owie as he swam quickly away.

“You’re it!” laughed Leanne, and she swam to where Owie was hiding.

Jack never knew what was going on because he had been tricked again!

The two friends raced to find a new hiding place and then Jack tried to find them.

“Where are you guys?” sang out Jack. The great thing was that the other fishy friends suddenly joined in the game to help Jack find the lobsters.

Jack, who was being helped by the other fish friends, could be seen swimming around in circles as he looked for Owie and Leanne.

“There they are!” cried Jack when he finally spotted them hiding behind a rock that was near his home. “I found you now! I have you both.”

Owie and Leanne giggled as the 3 friends went to Jack’s house for snacktime.

“Let’s have marsh-mellows so we can fill our bellies!” said Jack.

“Great idea”, said Owie. “I’ll get the marshmellows.”

“I will get the marsh-mellow jar and the oven mitts”, said Leanne.

But when they got to Jack’s house, there were no marsh-mallows! “Where are all of our yummy marsh-mellows?” asked Owie as he looked around on the kitchen counter.

“Hmmm” said Jack. “I thought they were in this jar.” Then he realised he ate them all yesterday.

Owie and Leanne giggled as they looked at Jack’s sad face.

“I guess I was tricked”, said Jack with a shrug of his jellyfish arms

Moments later, Owie came back from the pantry holding a big plate of marsh-mellows he had found there. “What do you say, we share these, guys?” he laughed.

“Ahhh! you tricked me” giggled Jack happily.

Owie and Leanne giggled as they shared the yummy marsh-mellows with Jack.

“We will have to get you some more,” said Owie, “but not tomorrow.”

“No!”, laughed Jack, “Tomorrow is Easter!”

“True!”, agreed Leanne. “The Easter Shark is coming tomorrow. He is super friendly.”

Next the friends all had a sleep while they waited for the Easter Shark.

Photo by rohit from Pexels

They woke up when it went “rooooaaaarrr!”.

“Oh! Hello Easter Shark”, said Leanne, “We are glad to see you!”

“Yes, very happy,” said Owie. “We were waiting for you.”

Owie was a little freaked out and hid behind Jack’s jellyfish arm. But the Easter Shark just smiled at him and licked his big green tongue over his face before giving them all hugs with his long slimy fins!

What a happy day.

The End

By Alex